This ancient predatory whale's strange name comes from the fact that her bones were initially thought to belong to some sort of enormous non-avian sauropsid (reptile for those less cladistically inclined). Having the strongest (calculated) bite force of any known mammal (about 16,400 pounds at her upper third premolar), she would have fed her young by biting open the skulls of juvenile Dorudon, another (smaller) ancient whale. (Source: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti…)

One of the largest carnivores to ever walk the Earth, she has evolved serrated, blade-like teeth (the "serrations" actually being deep folds: www.nature.com/articles/srep12…), adapted for slicing through flesh with ease. Sadly, her genus's original remains were no match for British WWII bombers...

One of the largest carnivores to ever walk the Earth, she has evolved serrated, blade-like teeth (the "serrations" actually being deep folds: www.nature.com/articles/srep12…), adapted for slicing through flesh with ease. Sadly, her genus's original remains were no match for British WWII bombers...

If you needed further evidence that the Linnaean taxonomic system is broken and needs replacement, then Old Bronty here is your Huckleberry. More than a century after her genus was synonymized with Apatosaurus in 1903, a new study in 2015 revalidated Othniel Charles Marsh's original description of Brontosaurus being phylogenetically distinct from Apatosaurus (Apatosaurus had a fatter neck). Brontosaurus lives again!

More than a century after Cope and Marsh first dug up fossils of this giant sea lizard, our view of her has changed drastically. We now know that she swam mostly using an asymmetrical tail fluke, was countershaded, and lacked a dorsal crest.